Prasun Mishra, M.Sc., Ph.D.

Prasun Mishra, MSc, PhD (Ex-Genentech, Ex-NCI/NIH) is the founder and CEO of Agility Pharmaceuticals, an artificial intelligence (AI) driven pharmaceutical company committed to revolutionizing drug discovery through BigData, Robotics and AI. He is also founding president and CEO of American Association for Precision Medicine (AAPM), one of the world’s leading professional organizations dedicated to advancing the field of precision medicine. His passion for drug development and precision medicine has led to identification of new drug targets, biomarkers, companion diagnostics, and mechanisms of action/resistance of both new and established drugs, which has facilitated development of rational drug combinations in the clinic. His distinct research/managerial experience in big pharma, government, academia, start-up & healthcare settings spans multiple therapeutic areas, including oncology, inflammation, fibrosis and aging. He has expertise in diverse target classes (including enzymes, kinase, transcription factors, epigenetic & protein-protein interactions modulators) and drugs (from small molecules to biologics, including monoclonal antibodies, ADCs-antibody drug conjugates, peptides, protein degraders & natural products) as well as cell/gene/RNA based therapeutics. Moreover, discoveries lead by Dr. Mishra and his teams have contributed to the development of new and viable strategies of prevention, diagnosis and treatment of cancer patients in the clinic.

He received his Ph.D. in Cellular and Molecular Pharmacology from Rutgers University with Highest Honors (a Dean’s Research Award, three Young Investigator Awards, as well as the Outstanding Thesis Research Award) and a post-doctoral training at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) (selected to become NIH-Tenure Track Investigator). Before establishing his laboratory at Genentech, he served as a principal investigator at National Cancer Institute (NCI), NIH on two peer-reviewed NCI/NIH-funded intramural grants/awards focused on identifying and characterizing novel drugs/targets/drug combinations utilizing phenotypic/genetic screenings, hit-to-lead efforts, preclinical testing followed by clinical investigation. At Genentech, besides translational research, he has participated in discovery project teams at various stages, from high throughput screening (HTS) assay development to early clinical development, providing/interpreting data, gaining insights into target biology/drug design and optimization. Moreover, he was instrumental in establishing robotic automation (robotization) driven cell based phenotypic screening capabilities and hit to lead identification efforts within Genentech. Notably, his research work has resulted in a new target nomination proposal and acquisition on a clinical stage compound by Roche.

His research work has been recognized globally by numerous awards and honors for his seminal contributions to the emerging fields of Precision Medicine, Pharmacogenomics, Stem Cell Biology as well as Cancer Biology & Therapy. Importantly, his work was recognized by the US Department of Health and Human Services, NIH with the prestigious Trans-NIH Earl Stadtman Tenure Track Investigator Lectureships, named after National Medal of Science winner biochemist Earl Stadtman who trained two Nobel laureates. Notably, in 2011 his work was honored by Nobel Laureate Dr. Harold Varmus with a Director’s Innovation Award (same award Dr. Mishra received twice). In addition, he was a recipient of ‘five’ Federal Technology Transfer Awards from US federal government. Furthermore, his research was recognized on several occasions with awards/lectureships/grants by American Association for Cancer Research, American Society of Hematology, Cambridge Healthtech Institute, Bio-IT World, University of Southern California (graduate student choice lecture), New Jersey State Commission on Cancer Research, Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, Rutgers Cancer Institute, Rutgers University, Thomson Reuters, AstraZeneca P.L.C., AbbVie, Genentech, NCI, NIH and Harvard Medical School. Moreover, his passion for translational research has resulted in over 100 invited presentations/publications, including 5 US patents, and 8 drugs/drug combinations in clinical trials.